17 more people have died in Maine from COVID-19; 133 new cases

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Maine health officials on Tuesday reported 17 more deaths from COVID-19 and 133 new cases.

However, none of the 17 new deaths occurred in the past 24 hours. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention periodically reviews death certificates to see if cases of COVID-19 contributed to deaths that were not previously registered with the health agency.

Sixteen of the deaths reported on Tuesday occurred between January 25 and March 1, while one occurred in November 2020. Twelve of the deaths were people aged 80 or older, three were people in their sixties, one person in their fifties and another in their 70s.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 46,059 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 in Maine and 723 deaths. With 133 new cases, this was the second day in a row that the daily number of cases fell below the recent seven-day daily averages of the number of cases in the 160s. Cases have declined sharply from a peak in mid- January by over 600 per day, but have peaked since mid-February.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 increased slightly to 75 on Tuesday, including 21 in intensive care and seven on ventilators. Like the cases, hospitalizations have stabilized in recent weeks after dropping steadily from a peak of over 200 in mid-January.

Dr Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew will speak to the media at 2 p.m. today.

As of Tuesday, 274,646 people had received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or 20.43% of Maine’s population. In addition, 156,174 people, or 11.62% of the state’s 1.3 million people, had received the final dose of the vaccine. About 74% of residents over 70 have received at least one injection.

Amid an increase in vaccinations and a stabilization of cases, Maine is set to ease its restrictions on COVID-19 as the summer tourist season approaches. Governor Janet Mills announced last week that residents of New England states are no longer required to quarantine or produce a negative test result upon arrival in Maine. Previously, the only exempt states were Vermont and New Hampshire.

Starting May 1, travel restrictions will be lifted for all states, unless Maine places restrictions on targeted states based on increased cases and other moves in the wrong direction. .

Kristi Holmquist, a fourth-grade teacher at Dirigo Elementary School in Dixfield, receives a COVID-19 vaccination Friday afternoon from nurse Penny Michaud at a Med-Care Ambulance drive-through clinic in Mexico. Andree Kehn / Journal of the Sun